Big Sky: 2011
Big Sky
A perfect summer day in an alfalfa field.
I just couldn’t believe the beauty in its near infinity and the peace at standing in among all those quietly, gently, growing plants under the big blue sky with its capricious clouds.
A field this flat and this big is unusual for hilly Western Pennsylvania where farmers often plant around ravines and big rocks or on an angle that must be difficult to drive a tractor. This area, though, was at the end of the last glacier, ground down pretty flat by its front edge and left with glacial lakes, long since evaporated.
Big Sky
Big Sky
A perfect summer day in an alfalfa field.
I just couldn’t believe the beauty in its near infinity and the peace at standing in among all those quietly, gently, growing plants under the big blue sky with its capricious clouds.
A field this flat and this big is unusual for hilly Western Pennsylvania where farmers often plant around ravines and big rocks or on an angle that must be difficult to drive a tractor. This area, though, was at the end of the last glacier, ground down pretty flat by its front edge and left with glacial lakes, long since evaporated.
A Farm Along the Road
A Farm Along the Road
A neat and tidy farm settles in a slight hollow at the end of a ripening hayfield cast against a stretch of woods, fleabane and early yarrow dotting the edge of the field.
While much of Western Pennsylvania is hilly, sometimes unpredictably so, and these narrow two-lane backroads can often lead to surprise drop-offs from the roadside as you round a bend, this area is in the range of the edge of a long-ago glacier that scraped the hills into the valleys and created deep gravel beds. The land rises and falls as if it gently breathes in its sleep.
For its simplicity, the farm was eye-catching and had I but 20 minutes I would have stopped along the roadside and done a quick pastel of it. Alas, I was trying to outrun a thunderstorm and knew I’d have only about 10 minutes before I was soaked, and I didn’t relish the thought of driving in a downpour. I did win the race, but next time I may stop anyway.
Uncertain Light
Uncertain Light
It’s one of those days when it’s either dark and brooding underneath a continent-sized purple cloud or glaringly bright. It’s always fun to try to catch the swift movement of clouds in a photo, light areas and dark as the clouds march across the sky. And a lovely surprise to find a farm on a hilltop on a back road; the best reason to take those back roads.
Late Winter Farm
Late Winter Farm
The pond is still frozen but the snow is melting into the soil, the flattened grasses hold the sprouts of this year’s pastures and hayfields washed by bright late winter sun.
